Final Protocol Read Free Page A

scream it out. Don’t agree! But her mouth was as useless as the rest of her body, and all she managed to get out past her battered throat and swollen lips was a strangled moan.
    A hand smoothed down her hair. “Hush, pet.”
    She cringed away—or tried to—from that touch. Him. It was him.
    “Decide,” he said, either unaware of her hatred of him or unaffected. “If you don’t decide soon, I will.”
    “Fine. I’ll…” The words were erratic, ragged. “You win. I’ll do whatever you want.”
    “Perfect.” There was a faint, electronic whine. “Now…kill her.”
    She wanted to sob. She might have been doing so already.
    “No!” The furious bellow was abruptly cut off by the sound of a deep, tormented howl of pain.
    “You will kill her…or I will keep her.”
    Silence. It was a noiseless summons, a tug in my brain, and it pulled me straight out of a dream that fell apart like gossamer threads. I tasted blood in my mouth.
    And I could hear the echo of laughter.
    Gold’s laughter. My owner. My tormentor. My nightmare.
    That was all that lingered from the dream.
    His familiar, mocking laughter.
    What had I been dreaming about?
    There was another tug within the seal in my brain and I shuddered. Curling into a tighter ball, I hugged my knees to my chest with one arm, while the other held my weapon, ready and pointed at the mouth of the cave.
    So much for escaping him.
    Silence.
    The sound of my name had me wanting to smash my head against the stone of the cave until sweet, blissful oblivion welcomed me into her arms. First the dream…
    And now this.
    Silence.
    I knew him, knew what he wanted, and I didn’t want to deal with him yet. I’d hoped for a few more hours of sleep.
    Silence.
    After the fourth whisper of the name I’d taken for myself ten years ago, I finally opened my eyes and stared up at the roof of the cave.
    The son of a bitch wouldn’t be quiet.
    Reaching out, I caught the comm and activated it. The scrambler would delay my response as it bounced it around, making it impossible for him to find me. He’d try, and it was entirely possible he would track me down after I’d left here—long after I’d left. But that wouldn’t do him any good, and it pleased me to think of him chasing after my shadow.
    “What do you want?” I asked sourly.
    “I want to know why the job wasn’t completed.”
    I curled my lip.
    Overhead, a fat drop of water collected. As it started to fall, I closed my eyes and then held still as it let go and came down toward me, hitting me in the middle of my brow. I welcomed the cool, wet relief, a balm against the rage I felt anytime I had to deal with this bastard.
    I hated him.
    I loathed him.
    I needed him to survive.
    “The job wasn’t completed because there were complications. I would have called you to discuss them if you hadn’t had your watchdogs outside my home. I don’t like it when you do that,” I said softly, opening my eyes as I began to weave the careful web of lies I’d crafted during my journey. Did I go through with this? Or just end it? Even if I found the botanist, Gold would still seek me. I knew him. He’d never give me up.
    “Complications,” he murmured in a voice that sounded of silk and poison.
    Just the sound of it was enough to make me shudder. I knew that voice, so well. It had murmured to me when I was barely clinging to life. He had put me there more than once. And more than once, he’d found me there and nursed me back to health—it was only fair, since every time I’d ended up in that precarious position, it was because of a job he’d sent me on.
    And then there were the other times, times that made me hate myself even more.
    Maybe I did have a soul.
    If I were as empty as I liked to think I was, then I couldn’t hate myself.
    “Tell me,” he continued, and the sound of his voice drew my nipples tight even as revulsion ripped through me. “Silence, tell me of these complications.”
    “He knew I was coming. I told you